Food, family and memories are as intertwined in the South as if woven on the same thread. At any function we attend, from a party to a wedding to a funeral, we are as likely to talk as much about the food that was there, as we are about why we are gathered. ~Mary Foreman

I'm your cook, not your doctor. ~PAULA DEEN

I found out what the secret to life is: friends. Best friends. ~Ninny Threadgoode

Friday, February 12, 2010

To me, the celebration aspect of Valentine's Day is all about young love - both in the love between a couple in the early stages of a relationship and in that love between a parent and their young children. Young lovers should be enthralled in every aspect of love and being in love on Valentine's Day. Children, with the help of their parents, should be building Valentine boxes, making cupcakes and putting together treats for teachers and classmates - learning about what it is to care for and about others.

Of course if you're wealthy, or a celebrity, you can run off to some exotic spot and spend an obscene amount of money for a week long Valentine's Day celebration whether you are young, old, single, married or somewhere in between. For the rest of us older and maybe, not so older, married folk, the love we feel for our spouses and significant others, is something that should be celebrated every day beginning with those marriage vows. Valentine's Day should not put pressure or a burden on that in any way.

Celebrate it, or not, in the way that you want! For some of us that means a peaceful, quiet night at home. Others of us who cook all the time, might like to have our spouse do the cooking. Or maybe we bring the children to our parent's house to have a date night, out together, in a nice, quiet, romantic restaurant, just the two of us. Just make sure that you communicate to your spouse what it is that you want.

This post here though... this is for all the single ladies out there - the ones who have an eye on that one special beau. The star, is the chicken, and it comes with a story of love.

Legend has it, that the original "engagement chicken" first made its appearance almost 30 years ago now, when a Glamour magazine editor shared the recipe for a simple, roasted chicken with an assistant, who prepared it for her boyfriend one evening. A month later he proposed. And... get this. Apparently, according to the source herself, the original recipe for Engagement Chicken came from none other than The Ina Garten - not surprising since Ina is known for her variety of roasted chickens. I never knew that this story behind "The" Engagement Chicken started with Ina until she shared that on her show Barefoot Contessa one day.

Of course this story quickly ran through the social circuits and before you know it, several more engagement stories were popping up resulting from this mysterious chicken dinner. It promptly became dubbed "Engagement Chicken."

While the theory that it plays out in a man's mind to be a dinner a wife might make for her husband, thereby prompting a proposal soon after, can't be scientifically proven, if you're a single lady looking to prompt that hesitant beau, it certainly wouldn't hurt to experiment - if of course he is a worthy candidate for marriage material! Of course, serving this as a Valentine Day dinner is not likely to result in a Valentine's Day proposal that very evening, but if a ring shows up more sooner than later sometime afterward, then that's okay too. Worse case scenario, is that you'll have had a nice dinner.

And of course, if you're a married man or woman and you've made it through this far into the post, you might want to make this great dinner anyway. Ship the kids off to Mama's and enjoy just being together for a change. Since I cook all of the time, and frankly, The Cajun isn't much of a cook, I think I'll opt for the dinner out for us.

If you think this sounds yummy, I'd sure ♥ it if you'd click to pin it, tweet it, stumble it, or share it on Facebook to help spread the word - thanks!

Thanks for taking the time to comment - I love hearing from readers and I read every single comment and try to respond to them right here on the site, so stop back by!

From time to time, anonymous restrictions and/or comment moderation may be activated due to comment spam. I also reserve the right to edit, delete or otherwise exercise total editorial discretion over any comments left on this blog.

Hey Y’all! Welcome to some good ole, down home southern cooking. Pull up a chair, grab some iced tea, and 'sit a bit' as we say down south. If this is your first time visiting Deep South Dish, you can sign up for FREE updates via EMAIL or RSS feed, or you can catch up with us on Facebook and Twitter too!

You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients. ~Julia Child

The classic southern plate for supper is made up of meat and three, cornbread or rolls & a tall glass of sweet iced tea.

Oftentimes what makes a recipe southern, is as much a state of mind as it is a matter of geography - Southerners simply decide a particular food is southern, and that's that." ~Rick McDaniel, Food Historian

DISCLAIMER: This is a recipe site intended for entertainment. By using this site and these recipes you agree that you do so at your own risk, that you are completely responsible for any liability associated with the use of any recipes obtained from this site, and that you fully and completely release Mary Foreman and Deep South Dish LLC and all parties associated with either entity, from any liability whatsoever from your use of this site and these recipes.

ALL CONTENT PROTECTED UNDER THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT. CONTENT THEFT, EITHER PRINT OR ELECTRONIC, IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE. Recipes may be printed ONLY for personal use and may not be transmitted, distributed, reposted, or published elsewhere, in print or by any electronic means. Seek explicit permission before using any content on this site, including partial excerpts, all of which require attribution linking back to specific posts on this site. I have, and will continue to act, on all violations.